5:48 PM: Everyone is getting seated and the event will start in 12 minutes.

6:00 PM: The lights have gone down.

6:02 PM: “We want to kick of 2010 by introducing a magical and revolutionary product today… but first I have a few updates.”

6:05 PM: “Next update, the app store. We have over 140,000 apps, and a few weeks ago we announced a user downloaded 3 billion apps.”

6:08 PM: “SO all of us use laptops and smartphones… the question has arisen; is there room for something in the middle. We’ve wondered for years as well — in order to create that category, they have to be far better at doing some key tasks… better than the laptop, better than the smartphone.”

6:10 PM: “We think we’ve got something that is better. And we call it the iPad.”

7:14 PM: $14.99 for 250MB of data or $29.99 for unlimited. Free use of AT&T WiFi Hotspots. No contract. International deals by June. iPad 3G models are unlocked.

7:17 PM: “WiFI plus 3G if you want it. So iPad. It’s phenomenal. Email is fantastic, best device for photos, great for music, great for video. It runs almost all of the 140k apps on the app store, as well as a whole new generation of apps.”

Engadget have received some pictures, which they cannot confirm as being real but they do look real, of the upcoming Apple Tablet. It’s only just over an hour now until the event begins so it won’t be long until we find out.

Here’s what Engadget posted:

we just got two very interesting images of what certainly looks like a prototype Apple tablet, or what could be the tablet bolted down to a table. It’s big — really big — and it’s running what clearly looks like an iPhone app, although we’ve never seen an iPhone app with that interface or at that resolution before. We also see a WiFi icon and a cell service indicator, although tragically there’s no carrier listed.

Apple Tablet Prototype w/ iPhone

So the few picture leaked do look a lot like people thought which is a large iPhone but Steve Troughton-Smith had some interesting ideas about the images.

So from what we have seen we’re guessing the resolution might be around 640×1024, that the picture shows a non-OLED device, however this doesn’t rule one out. And that Apple are still using Google Maps for the device.

The images show an interesting case around the side, this could be for security or just to disguise the device, as some people over at iPhone Alley spotted a device running a modified version of Mac OS X on a device which was thought to be the new tablet.

McGraw-Hill’s CEO, Terry McGraw, yesterday confirmed that the Apple tablet would be announced today. In the video he was very excited about working with Apple and spoke of how the announcement would be today and how it’s “based on the iPhone operating system” and that it will be “transferable”, which I’m assuming means everything in iTunes.

He also says that they’ve got 95% of their materials up and ready to run as e-books, and it’s not a stretch to think that Apple has made similar deals with other major publishers as well. This still isn’t official confirmation of the tablet but it’s pretty obvious now that it’ll be coming.

Rumour has it that Apple has caused a shortage of OLED screen components, possibly for their upcoming tablet or possibly for the iPhone 4G.

“We were told that Apple pre-ordered them all. All 10 inch LCDs, and all 10 inch OLEDs too,” an anonymous designer commented during CES.

Another rumor from last year said that the tablet had been delayed because Apple was waiting for OLED components for the device. It seems plausible then that Apple could be behind an OLED shortage, as they can usually control component prices due to the bulk in which they buy. As they have done with flash memory in the past for iPods and iPhone’s.

The source also says there is also a shortage of LCD screen components of the same size, hinting that Apple may offer an LCD model alongside the OLED model, maybe as a low end option. Only time will tell but it’s not long now until the event where the tablet it due to be unveiled.

A source has told BGR that they have solid info about Apple’s upcoming tablet. It has been widely reported recentlythat the size of the tablet is 10 inches but the source, who is very connected, says there is also a 7 inch model.
There connection said there is definitely a 7 inch Apple Tablet, that will be announced in January. There might be a 10 inch model too but there source had no information on that.

The Financial Times also believes the announcement for the Apple Tablet will come in January. The WSJ points to a March release date.

The latest build of Snow Leopard (10.6.2), no longer supports the Intel Atom chip which is widely used in netbooks.

In the current developer build of 10.6.2, Apple appears to have changed around a lot of CPU related information. One of the effects of this is Apple killing off Intel’s Atom chip.
Among other things, Sleepenabler.KEXT is now ineffective and will need a new version. It is now suggested to run CPUPM with a proper DSDT.

Although Apple has long engadged in a hack-and-mouse game with with users who use Mac OS X onto third-party hardware, some people see it as a shot against low-cost netbooks, maybe meaning a low-cost MacBook soon? Others believes its another sign of the Apple Tablet as it’s rumoured to have a price point a lot higher than netbooks and so Apple is trying to get rid of the competition.

Stellarola also notes that similar restrictions in Leopard 10.5.9 may disable the Atom, and so advises any pre-Snow Leopard hackintoshed Atom netbooks to stick with 10.5.8.

Who know’s how this will be implemented or how long it will take them to figure away round it. But hopefully this won’t end the use of Mac OS X on third-party hardware.